It’s A Trust Thing

Over the last few weeks it seems that news broadcasts have been dominated by breach of trust issues whether it’s the questionable ethics of politicians, the BBC’s phone-in policies or most recently the Tour de France doping problems.

The pre-Tour favourite Vinokourov suffered a nasty crash, damaging his prospects, but was then found to have had an illegal blood transfusion, which ended them. His entire team went home, along with another eight riders forced to leave after one of their colleagues was found to have cheated.

In an unexpected move the Yellow Jersey wearer found himself fired by his team. The sponsor, who had paid millions of Euros to see their man in yellow, didn’t want him representing their brand when he was demonstrated to have lied to them and his team mates. They didn’t wait for a drugs test, lying was unacceptable to them.

It’s hard for people to trust others in a climate where cheating and lying become the norm and in businesses it’s hard to have real passion about what you do if you’re working in a culture where your ethics are compromised.

People need to trust their leaders, without trust they won’t follow willingly and won’t fully commit to their goals. They may show up for the money, but will remain detached from the business.

Truly successful leaders inspire trust, and create an environment where doing the right thing becomes the norm, whether or not anyone is watching or there’s a chance of being caught out. The difference hits the bottom line, not just in the short term. Businesses which operate on a clear basis of trust and values have demonstrably more sustainable success.

To talk about how your business can build its own strong leadership calibre and create a platform for sustainable success contact us.